1. David Acosta The prevention coordinator in Philly's Department of Health, Acosta is also a writer and activist for health care reform, Native American rights and LGBT rights. He founded the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative, cofounded the Philadelphia Working Fund for Artists with HIV/AIDS and founded the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression. He uses art and conversation to address cultural social change and undo the ties-and tongues-that bind.

2. Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH An infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, professor Adimora seeks to understand how and why African-American women in the South are at such high risk for HIV infection. Her work has helped ensure that by the end of the '00s the rate of new AIDS cases in women stabilized for the first time in more than a decade.

3. Randy Allgaier The 25-year survivor of HIV and hepatitis C knows the ins and outs of accessing care. He has fought for significant increases to ADAP funding in California, protected gay rights and helped people with HIV navigate Medicare. Today, he ensures that people with HIV/AIDS receive the help they need via Ryan White programs in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties.

4. Gerardo Angulo The comprehensive risk counseling and services coordinator for Track Change, a program in Phoenix that reaches Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans and Asians, Angulo counsels young men (ages 14 to 24) of color who have sex with men, educating them to make healthy choices to protect themselves and their health.

5. Judy Auerbach, PhD The deputy executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), Auerbach has a long and illustrious career of HIV/AIDS policy activism. She develops and leads SFAF's local, state, national and international policy agendas. She has been instrumental in getting AIDS research to focus on women and girls. We all can sleep better knowing she's speaking our truth to those whose decisions influence our lives.

6. Dawn Averitt-Bridge The founder and chair of the board of The Well Project ensured from the earliest days of the epidemic that women got access to information tailored to their needs-and bodies. A 22-year survivor of HIV, she developed the Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS, which influences how the FDA labels drugs and advises pharmaceutical companies on drug development. A member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), she makes sure women everywhere are armed with what they need to know about HIV/AIDS-most important, how not to get it.

7. Cornelius Baker Fun and ebullient, he is one of the community's best builders of organizations. Currently the national policy advisor for the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition in Washington, DC, Baker is often called on to advise behind the scenes and to moderate many a public forum. When he takes the stage, people take note.

8. John Barnes The executive director of Funders Concerned About AIDS, which is based in Crystal City, Virginia, has a long career in public service and fund-raising. He has assisted with child welfare, fed the hungry and fought domestic violence. Today, he's coalescing the communal power of government, big business and the general public to find the finances necessary to beat down HIV/AIDS. And when he invites George Soros and Bill Gates to his party, they come.

9. David Barr The longtime treatment advocate and educator has done stints at Lambda Legal, Gay Men's Health Crisis and the Drug Policy Alliance. One of ACT UP New York's early members and a founding member of the Treatment Action Group, Barr has been invited to weigh in at the National Institute of Medicine's AIDS Roundatable, the Ford Foundation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, UNAIDS and the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, to name a few. As director of the Collaborative Fund for HIV Treatment Preparedness (a project of the Tides Network and the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition) he continues to improve the lives of people living with HIV.

10. Jon Benorden Straight outta Alaska (yes that's his rod and those are his waders in the photo), this notable newcomer is now the program manager for the Strategic Initiative for HIV/AIDS Care and Prevention at the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Services (CARES) in Sacramento, California.

(Note: The POZ team reviews all comments before they are posted. Please do not include either ":" or "@" in your comment. The opinions expressed by people providing comments are theirs alone. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Smart + Strong, which is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by people providing comments.)